Page 43 of Ten Beach Road

Madeline smiled at her partners. “And then we’ll get Nicole to talk someone into giving it to us.”

Chase arrived the next afternoon bearing gifts and children.

His sons, Josh and Jason, were fifteen and thirteen, with their father’s bright blue eyes and dark hair. Already well on their way to matching his six-foot-plus height, they towered over Avery when they were re-introduced. Standing in the midst of the three of them made her feel like a Lilliputian—an irritated Lilliputian.

“Boys, you remember Vanna, don’t you?”

She went on tiptoe to peck them on both cheeks. “I know you’re too intelligent to even think about calling me that. I can tell just from looking at you that you’re way smarter than your father.”

The boys were also more well mannered and far sweeter than their father and seemed glad to be at the beach even if it meant being polite and carting furniture around. She was very glad of their muscle as they unloaded Chase’s truck and put the furniture where she directed.

A Naugahyde sofa and two chairs with ottomans were set up in the salon across from a TV on a stand. A coffee table and a somewhat rickety end table came off the truck next and were followed by a floor and table lamp. The mismatched furniture was dwarfed by and far too informal for the room with its coffered cypress ceiling and its row of arched windows, but at the moment Avery would have been glad for packing boxes to sit on. After weeks of perching on the kitchen chairs or on a beach chair out back, the cast-off furnishings made a small portion of the house habitable and gave at least the illusion of a home.

Four more chairs appeared and were added to the kitchen table and an old wicker sofa and chair were deposited on the loggia. When they were done Chase gave the boys permission to take their football out on the beach until he was ready to leave. They left jostling each other as they went.

“Nice kids,” Avery said. “They must have gotten it from their mother.”

“Yeah.”

She saw the flash of pain in his eyes and realized what she’d said. “I’m sorry, Chase,” she began to apologize. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“Not a problem,” he said and then surprised her by continuing. “They are a lot like Dawn. They’ve got her smile and her laid-back attitude.” He shook his head. “Anyway, sometimes I just kind of forget she’s gone, you know?” He looked away, clearly embarrassed at the admission, and Avery wondered whether she would miss Trent the way Chase missed Dawn if he’d been taken from her rather than simply disappointing her. She realized with some surprise how seldom she actually thought about Trent other than the occasional flash of remembered hurt or anger.

“Look,” she said, “I don’t really understand why we’re always at odds about everything. But I really hope you paid attention when I told you that Madeline should do the re-glazing. She’s—”

“I’ve got it under control.” He cut her off yet again, any softness she thought she’d seen in his face gone. “There’s no need for you to worry your . . .”

“Good God,” Avery said. “Let’s just leave my ‘pretty little head’ out of it, okay?” She drew in a deep and disappointed breath. “I’m not worried, Chase,” she said. “And I have no interest in arguing with you again. But I’ll tell you one thing. If you’re not here Monday morning with a smile on your face prepared to teach Madeline how to re-glaze the windows, I will.”

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